It took me awhile to dive into this book. I have suffered from headaches all my life. I have learned certain truths. If I don't get enough sleep, I will get a headache. If I don't drink enough water, I will get a headache.
The author does a deep dive into what causes certain headaches, how to relieve them, and the biology of the headache.
I think that this book should be read by biologists or doctors.
There are a lot of technical terms and it was hard to keep it all straight.

OVerall, I loved that the author would break down the different types of headaches and how to "cure" them.

I learned so much about my headaches from this book! I cannot wait to see if those details work on mine. I loved learning about the science behind certain types of headaches.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

Thank you to Bloomsbury USA and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book. I don't personally struggle from many headaches but I have family members that are debilitated by them so I thought this book would be an interesting read. There were sections that I found to be more intriguing over others (as with most non-fiction books.) Overall, I'd say that this was a very informative read that could greatly benefit anyone who has chronic headaches and wishes to figure out the reasoning behind why they regularly get them.

As someone who has suffered from migraines for decades, this book was both helpful and fascinating. I thought that my symptoms were rare, but seems like I’m a typical migraineur (a term I learned from Splitting). When I was first diagnosed, my neurologist said that no one knew what migraines were or how to stop them from happening. It doesn’t seem like there has been much progress in that regard, but there are now more studies and some more answers, even if Ellison’s advice to patients is the same my doctor gave me: figure out your triggers and get to know your symptoms. That said, even if the book also covers brain freeze and tension headaches, it will be mostly useful for people who suffer migraines and cluster headaches, but not as interesting to the lucky ones who don’t. Some parts dealing with chemistry and genetics are too technical for laypeople, but I highly recommend it to anyone dealing with this condition.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/ Bloomsbury USA!

As someone who experiences chronic headaches and the occasional migraine, I was interested in the subject matter of this book, but it was 100% Ellison's writing style that hooked me. I never would've expected to be laughing out loud at a book about headaches, but it happened on more than one occasion (my fiancé definitely thinks I'm a crazy person - "how is a book about headaches so hilarious??"). But truly, Ellison's voice shines through these pages so strongly, and you come away from reading it feeling like you've had an extraordinarily informative and entertaining conversation with a new friend (but really...can we be friends??).

Ellison does a masterful job of explaining otherwise highly complex material in an extremely approachable manner. For example: "All the blood vessels get bigger or dilate - a process called 'vasodilation' - to bring more blood quickly and this stretches their walls beyond comfortable limits, setting off the pain receptors in your blood vessels. 'There is danger here' is their message, 'stop what you are doing'." I also appreciated that Ellison frequently breaks down words into smaller chunks, giving us the etiology of each part so that we can better understand the words as a whole. Another delicate balance Ellison handled beautifully was between the background and medical terminology and the functional information for headache sufferers to put into action.

Over and over as I read her little asides and personal comments, I kept thinking to myself "thank goodness the publisher didn't reign her in" because the book wouldn't have been nearly as magical (and yes, I just described a pretty medically-heavy book about headaches as magical, and I meant it) without her flares of personality! I'll leave you with one of my favorites here: "One word we did lose over the time since Old English was the verb snite, 'to wipe or pick one's nose'. I am rather gutted that this has gone out of modern parlance but will make it my mission to ring it back. Starting now." ...I mean, who wouldn't laugh at this?! Beyond fantastic.

Giving this a 5/5 because it does what it set out to do in the most fabulous way possible, but with the grain of salt that ultimately, this is a book about headaches...although I'd venture to guess that even if you're not interested in headaches, you'd still enjoy this book thanks to Ellison alone!

Thank you to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. I have had chronic migraines my entire life and never fully understood the science behind them. Splitting not only gave me great insight into the different kinds of headaches, the reasons behind the symptoms, and the history behind the types of treatments, but actually helped me to identify some of the conditions behind my migraines that has helped me to ease them (as I learned that my serotonin sensitivity is the main culprit, hence why traditional OTC pain meds aren't very effective).

This was a very informative read that could greatly benefit anyone who has chronic headaches and wishes to figure out why. With quick wit, personal anecdotes and a wealth of solid research, Ellison explores the types of headaches we get, why we get them, and steps we can take to solve the puzzle of our own headache health. The sections on how alcohol and caffeine create headache cycles and the effects of serotonin on headaches were of particular interest.

The only caveat I would apply is that this book is not afraid to get “in the weeds” on science (at least by mass-market standards). This is great because so much science happens in those tricky, and often complicated, details. I often felt like I was back in my Cellular Neurobiology class and I loved it. While the science is highly accessible given the complexity of the topic, the depth could be a slog for those not interested (or well-versed) in research of this nature. That said, I would still recommend this to anyone looking to unravel the cause of their headaches.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book.

I get headaches and migraines more often than I'd like. This book had some good information that I didn't already know in regards to treatment, along with some additional interesting info.

*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I had personal interest in this book especially, as I've had migraines since I was 12. I've learned how to care for them (avoiding triggers, holistic helps, etc.) over the years but the process of the headache still fascinates me and I was curious as to whether the author had any insight I didn't already know in terms of treatment. Unfortunately this book didn't help much in that respect. It did, however, contain a lot of information that was interesting, such as how auras work and why we feel headache pain in our temples.

Not for the average person. Lot of statistics and information that the average person won't get.

Thanks to author,publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free,it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.